Target Refuses To Sell Beyoncé‘s New Album

Unless you’ve been quite literally hiding under a rock, you know that Queen Beyoncé dropped a surprise album last week (and nearly broke the Internet in the process). Since its pop-up debut, the album has shattered any and all previous iTunes records (selling 617,000 copies at the time of this writing) and left her fan base completely blindsided in the best possible way.

Which is why it’s so surprising to hear that once the physical album becomes ready for distribution, Target will not be selling it. The massive retailer claims that physical sales will be hurt after the massive success of the initial online release.

“At Target we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections,” Target spokeswoman Erica Julkowski said. She continued, “While there are many aspects that contribute to our approach and we have appreciated partnering with Beyoncé in the past, we are primarily focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as all other formats.”

The singer’s last album, 4, featured an extra six tracks for exclusive Target editions. Billboard estimates that Target is the fourth-largest seller of music in the United States.

What do you think? Does Target’s reasoning make sense? Voice your opinion in the comments below.